More Inspector Appleby – Michael Innes Free Audiobook

Written by Michael Innes
Read by Matt Addis
Format: MP3
Bitrate: Mixed
Unabridged

CNIB lists several of the books. Missing books would be appreciated.

Except where noted, all books are read by Matt Addis

Appleby’s End (1945)
Sir John Appleby #10
Length: 8hrs 8min
Read by: Vincent Brimble

Appleby’s End was the name of the station where Detective Inspector John Appleby got off the train from Scotland Yard. But that was not the only coincidence. Everything that happened from then on related back to stories by Ranulph Raven, Victorian novelist – animals were replaced by marble effigies, someone received a tombstone telling him when he would die, and a servant was found buried up to his neck in snow, dead. Why did Ranulph Raven’s mysterious descendants make such a point of inviting Appleby to spend the night at their house?

Appleby Talks Again (1856)
Sir John Appleby # 15
Length: 6hrs 32min

Ralph Dangerfield, an Edwardian playwright who belonged to the smartest young set of his day, kept a scandalous diary recording the intimate details of his own life and those of his friends. After his death, it was believed that his mother had burnt the incriminating evidence, but fifty years later, a famous collector of literary curiosities claims to have the diary in his possession and threatens to blackmail fashionable London with belated secrets about people now in respectable old age. Sir John Appleby reveals how he uncovered this unscrupulous crime and talks about his key role in seventeen more intriguing cases.

The Long Farewell
Sir John Appleby #17
Length: 6hrs 19 min

Scotland Yard’s Sir John Appleby suspects foul play when the supposed suicide of scholar Lewis Packford appears to be linked to the disappearance of a rare book in Packford’s collection

As is usual with any Michael Innes detective story there are lots of improbable and eccentric characters. This time the plot centres on a set of scholars and the possibility of a discovery of a rare piece of writing from none other than William Shakespeare. Throw in a bigamous marriage, a country house and Sir John Appleby and you have a very entertaining piece of crime fiction.

Silence Observed (1961)
Sir John Appleby # 19
Length: 5hrs 2min

Respected Fine Art experts are deceived in one of the most intriguing murder cases Inspector Appleby has ever faced, beginning with Gribble, and a collector of forgeries whose latest acquisition is found to be a forged forgery! In the words of Appleby himself: ‘Those whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad’.

Just a little mad, for a start. Inclined, say, to unreasonable jokes in the course of business. But later – well, very mad indeed.

20 The Connoisseur’s Case (1962)
Sir John Appleby # 20
Lebgth: 5hrs 48min

When John Appleby’s wife, Judith, sets eyes on Scroop House, she insists that they introduce themselves to the owners – a suggestion that makes her sometimes reserved husband turn very pale. When Judith hears the village gossip about the grand house, she is even more intrigued; but when a former employee is found dead in the lock of the disused canal, and the immense wealth of Scroop’s contents is revealed, Appleby has a gripping investigation on his hands.

Death at the Chase (1970)
Sir John Appleby # 24
Length: 5hrd 29 min

When master sleuth, Appleby, leaps over a stile during a country stroll, he is apprehended by an irate Martyn Ashmore, owner of the land on which Appleby has unwittingly trespassed. But when the misunderstanding is cleared up, eccentric, aged Ashmore reveals that he is in fear for his life – once every year, someone attempts to murder him. Is it the French Resistance, or a younger Ashmore on the make?

When Martyn dies, Appleby sets out to find who exactly is responsible.

An Awkward Lie (1971)
Sir John Appleby # 25
Length: 5h 49min

Sir John Appleby’s son, Bobby, assumes his father’s detective role in this baffling crime.
When Bobby finds a dead man in a bunker on a golf course, he notices something rather strange – the first finger of the man’s right hand is missing. A young girl approaches the scene and offers to watch the body whilst Bobby goes for help, but when he returns with the police in tow, the body and the girl are missing.

Appleby’s Answer (1973)
Sir John Appleby # 27
Length: 6hrs

Author of detective novels, Priscilla Pringle, is pleased to find that she is sharing a railway compartment with a gentleman who happens to be reading one of her books – Murder in the Cathedral. He is military officer, Captain Bulkington, who recognises Miss Pringle and offers her #500 to collaborate on a detective novel. To everyone’s surprise, Miss Pringle is rather taken with Captain Bulkington – is she out of her depth?

Appleby’s Other Story (1974)
Sir John Appleby # 28
Length: 6h 03min

During a walk to Elvedon House, palatial home of the Tythertons, Sir John Appleby and Chief Constable Colonel Pride are stunned to find a police van and two cars parked outside.

Wealthy Maurice Tytherton has been found shot dead, and Appleby is faced with a number of suspects: Alice Tytherton, flirtatious, younger wife of the deceased; Egon Raffaello, disreputable art dealer; and the prodigal son, Mark Tytherton, who has just returned from Argentina.

Could the death be linked to the robbery of some paintings several years ago?

The Appleby File (1975) short stories
Sir John Appleby # 29
Length: 6hrs 48min
Read by: Andrew Timothy

There are fifteen stories in this compelling collection, Poltergeist – when Appleby’s wife tells him that her aunt is experiencing trouble with a Poltergeist, he is amused but dismissive, until he discovers that several priceless artefacts have been smashed as a result; A Question of Confidence – when Bobby Appleby’s friend, Brian Button, is caught up in a scandalous murder in Oxford, Bobby’s famous detective father is their first port of call; The Ascham – an abandoned car on a narrow lane intrigues Appleby and his wife, but even more intriguing is the medieval castle they stumble upon.

The Ampersand Papers (1978)
Sir John Appleby #31
Length: 5h 35min, 113 MB

While Appleby is strolling along a Cornish beach, he narrowly escapes being struck by a body falling down a cliff. The body is that of Dr Sutch, an archivist, and he has fallen from the North Tower of Treskinnick Castle, home of Lord Ampersand. Two possible motivations present themselves to Appleby – the Ampersand gold, treasure from an Armada galleon; and the Ampersand papers, valuable family documents that have associations with Wordsworth and Shelley.

Carson’s Conspiracy (1984)
Sir John Appleby # 34
Length: 5h 31min

Businessman Carl Carson decides to make a dash for South America to escape the economic slump, leaving his home and his barmy wife. But he has a problem – if his company was seen to be drawing in its horns, it wouldn’t last a week. His solution is his wife’s favourite delusion – an imaginary son, named Robin. Carson plans to stage a fictitious kidnapping – after all, what could be more natural than a father liquidating his assets to pay the ransom demand?

Unfortunately, Carson has a rather astute neighbour – Sir John Appleby, ex-Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.